


A Savior in the Dark

by Midnightmoonwhite



Series: Sormik Week 2017 [2]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, Detective AU, F/F, Gen, Kidnapping, Orphans and Adoption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 08:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11596602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnightmoonwhite/pseuds/Midnightmoonwhite
Summary: Rose and Sorey have been stuck on a case involving missing orphans. They finally get a lead from the culprit himself and have 24 hours to find the children before something happens to them. Can they do it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit late but I made it for sormik week day 2. (I won't be doing a day three because I couldn't think of anything worthwhile to save my life >.<)
> 
> This will be a multific however I'm not sure how long and I can't say when it'll be updated again considering I'll be busy the rest of this week but I'll do what I can. 
> 
> Some characters listed won't show up until later chapters  
> I also have some sort of trend going on with kidnapping apparently. (I however do not have any such thing planned for the other works to come this week... Or at least originally) 
> 
> I also think that after this kidnapping case is closed I'll continue this AU possibly making it a 3 part series? (I additionally have little qualms about any other ships going on in this story so if you guys have any opinions on that feel free to comment it)

Rose was staring intently at the think board when Alisha walks in. They’ve been on this case for weeks now and it’s been nothing but dead leads. Four children are missing and it hasn’t even been 48 hours since the last incident.

Alisha walks over to Sorey’s desk and asks if they’ve gotten anything yet, to which he only responds with a sullen shake of the head, “No, but the lines are open.”

As if on cue one of the phone rings and Rose promptly answers. On the other line there was a short silence, “Hello?” questioned Rose. Still silence but then something began to play, a tune of some sort..

_A man of words and not deeds_

_Is like a garden full of weeds_

 

_And when the weeds begin to grow_

_It’s like a garden full of snow_

 

_And when the snow begins to fall_

_It’s like a bird upon the wall_

 

_And when the bird away does fly_

_It’s like an eagle in the sky_

 

_And when the sky begins to roar_

_It’s like a lion at the door_

 

_And when the door begins to crack_

_It’s like a stick across your back_

 

_And when your back begins to smart_

_It’s like a penknife to your heart_

 

_And when your heart begins to bleed_

_You’re dead, and dead, and dead indeed_

“If this is a joke-” Rose began but was suddenly cut off.

“Fret not my dear flower. I’ve simply grown bored of waiting around. You officers always enjoy taking your precious time so I thought I might raise the stakes.”

Rose grinded her teeth, “I swear if-”

“Ah ah ah,” she could hear the grin in the man's voice. “You wouldn’t want to do anything rash while playing my game. Now allow me to be generous and give you 24 hours to find the children before I really have to do something bad.”

The second the line cut off Rose scrambled for a notepad to write everything down. Her commotion got both Sorey and Alisha’s attention. “What was that all about?” Alisha asked with a growing concern.

Rose tossed the notepad to Sorey with pressed lips. “We’ve got a lead, though I’m not sure if it’s really a good thing or not..”

“What do you mean?” Sorey asked while looking over the rushed handwriting on the notepad.

“Well.” Rose began, her hands forming fists, “It’s a lead alright, straight from the source even! But I have no idea what the hell any of it means. And worse, we only have 24 hours before something happens to those missing kids.”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to figure it out Rose,” Alisha softly stated while looking at the note in Sorey’s hand, it seemed awfully familiar but she couldn’t quite place it.

“Yeah, but if it can’t be made sense of how will it lead us anywhere?” Rose retorted and let out a heavy sigh.

Sorey tore the paper from the pad and pinned it to the think board, “it’s a nursery rhyme. I know that much.”

“That’s it,” Alisha exclaimed while Rose looked at the two slightly dumbfounded, “I thought it seemed familiar. It’s from a book called ‘A Sorrow Ends.’ It is a rather old book but if remember right then each chapter was based on a set of those lines and it all ended in a church courtyard..”

“All right Alisha! I knew we could always count on our lovely prosecutor,” Rose chimed while pulling up a map with all the kidnapping locations and now churches.

Even though the situation is rather dire Alisha couldn’t help the small tug at her lips, Rose always did say such embarrassing things.

“50 results,” Rose pressed her lips again. “Doesn’t really get us any closer..”

“Try doing churches that are at least 100 years old. I can’t imagine we’d find what we’re looking for at a church that many people go to,” Sorey suggested.

“25 results and given how spread out some are I don’t think we’ll get to them all in time.”

Sorey looked at the map, “None of them seem to have any relation to the locations of the kidnappings either.”

Rose nodded, “we’ll have to call in Dezel and Zaveid.”

“Got it,” Sorey said while picking up his phone to dial Zaveid.

He picked up on the third ring, “What’s up Sheps?”

“We finally got our lead but we’ll need you and Dezel to help us out. Rose is sending you the details now, but basically we need to investigate some churches particularly old ones with courtyards. We only have 24 hours to find the children and this is all we have to go off of.”

Zaveid let out a heavy breath, “Don’t worry Sheps, we got you. Dezel and I are on the East side currently so will hit anything over here and move our way to the middle of town.”

“Thanks,” Sorey hung up.

“Let's go,” Rose called out while grabbing her gun from her desk and putting it in its holster. “Alisha you stay here and call us if anything new comes up, we’ll keep you posted on what churches have been checked also update the chief for us will ya,” Rose gave a quick wave and walked out the door followed by Sorey.

* * *

The drive to the first church on the outskirts of the city was an hour long.

“Dammit,” Rose muttered. “If this isn’t the one I hope it doesn’t take too long.”

Sorey got out of the car once Rose parked. “We still have 22 hours, if no one can point us in the right direction then a quick but thorough sweep is all we need before moving to the next place.”

“You’re right,” Rose gave a quick shake of her head. “We can do this.”

After taking a quick look around the courtyard they walked into the church.

“We’re with the Elysia Police Department,” Sorey said while flashing his badge at the pastor.

Rose took out a set of photos, “have you seen any of these children around here?”

The pastor took a long look at the photos, “No, I’m afraid not officers. We don’t get many children just elders coming for prayer every now and again. May I ask what this is about.”

“Just looking into some missing persons,” Rose put the photos back. “Any suspicious activity in the last few weeks?”

“Nothing, it’s been very quiet, we have such a peaceful neighborhood.”

“Mind if we have a look around then?” Sorey asked.

The pastor shook his head, “not at all.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

The search came up negative, no suspicious activity, no secret entrances, no details on the kids, nothing. Same thing at the next couple churches too.

Meanwhile though, Dezel and Zaveid are on the other side of the city. The first church they hit had no courtyard so they opted that one out.

The next church however, had something. One of the volunteer workers had recognized one of the kids.

“Where did you last see them?” Dezel asked while Zaveid was looking around the place.

“About a week ago, at central park.”

“Thanks,” Dezel pulled up the map on his phone.

‘Odd…’ Dezel thought. ‘The kid they recognized, Ava, was taken on the opposite side of the city from Central Park.’

He picked up his phone, “Sorey.”

* * *

“Yeah Dezel?” Sorey answered his phone on the second ring.

“We’ve got something, one of the volunteers at the church recognized Ava, said they saw her at central park about a week ago.”

“That’s roughly around when she was kidnapped..” Sorey mumbled.

Dezel gave an affirmative hum, “But she was actually taken from the complete other side of the city.”

Sorey furrowed his eyebrows, “That’s right…”

“Some good news is that there just happens to be a church near that park that made our list. But, Zaveid and I are further away than you and Rose.”

“Got it, we’ll head over right away.”

Sorey ended the call, “Rose we’ve got something.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lead, but at what costs?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guys, it's come to my attention, courtesy of myself, that this is complete trash.  
> ._. I reread that first chapter and honestly what a wreck, tbh I wish I added some more stuff to it but now we are here so uhh, just bare with it, I promise it gets better eventually... (This was originally meant to be short but then I thought I should just do more? why am i such a fool?) 
> 
> Additionally I'm sorry if the first couple chapters seem a bit rushed or unrealistic, ,_, this type of story doesn't seem to be my strong point. (I also feel like there's a lack of Sorey? I mean he's there, but not really... He'll have his time though.)
> 
> BUuuut enough of that. 
> 
> I estimate this will be 7-9 chapters depending on if I follow through with the original plan or cut it short
> 
> I should be able to update again soon but I plan to work on some other stuff in the meantime

Sorey and Rose drove to the church while stopping at one that happened to be on the way. To no surprise it came up empty. They still had 20 hours left, in reality this seems like plenty of time, but if none of the churches come up with anything then they would’ve wasted too much of it already. 

Coming up to the church that Dezel sent them to gave Sorey and Rose a strange chill.. Looking in the main part of the church, it was empty, unlike the last few. Nothing seemed out of place, it was just a regular, dusty church. 

The door creaked open, “Oh, I had not been expecting visitors.” 

They both turned around to see a middle aged man standing mid step into the church. For some reason he gave Rose a bad feeling.. 

“EPD,” Sorey showed his badge and the man smiled. 

“You the pastor of this church?”

“Oh no,” he stuck his hands into his jacket, “I just come by as maintenance every other month.” 

“I see,” Sorey rocked on his feet. “We’re looking into an investigation and are wondering if there are any strange rooms in this church or the courtyard that you’re aware of?”

The man looked thoughtful, “Perhaps one, now that you mention it, although I don’t clean it out since it’s just an old cellar. I do have the key though. Why don’t the two of you go on back by the statue, I’ll meet you out there.” 

Rose and Sorey both gave the man a nod and headed behind the church. Sure enough there was a statue of an angel holding her hands in prayer, directly below the statue were two wooden cellar doors. It was an odd place to put a cellar, if you asked anyone, but maybe their was historical significance behind it, who could say when the church had no one but a cleaning man to carry its legacy. 

Rose tapped her foot and checked her watch every now and again. 

“Dammit,” Rose kicked her heal into the ground. 

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s taking too long,” she glanced in the direction they came from. 

“How long’s it been?” 

“Seven minutes and counting.” It was far too long for a simple key. Generously speaking maybe the key was kept in a farther place than from where they came, but even then it was rather suspicious. 

“I’ll go check on him,” Sorey jogged off. 

Searching through the church he couldn’t find the man anywhere, even checking the road came up empty, save for their patrol car parked on the curb. 

He didn’t have any proof yet but that man was definitely guilty of something… Sorey called into the department leaving the description of the man, middle aged, probably fifties, dark brown hair slightly balding at the top, navy blue jacket and jeans, said he was a cleaner and likely lives in the area. Hopefully they could get some hits by pulling some video tapes from the area and  are able to match him to an ID. 

After the call Sorey made his way back to the cellar which was now open with Rose nowhere in sight. He wasn’t going to ask..

“Hey Sorey,” Rose called from within the cellar. “Come check this out.” 

Sorey pulled a flashlight free from his belt and shined it down the cellar. 

The steps leading down seemed a bit steep but they didn’t venture too deep before opening up to a long hall. Sorey crouched and took a step, shining his flashlight all the way down the hall making the light hit a stone wall, empty. 

“Where are you?” Sorey called out to the darkness. 

“Over here,” Rose jut out a hand from a doorway halfway down the hall and waved it. 

Sorey made his way to the room and upon entering it he was incredulous. The room was similar to that of what one might imagine a blacksmiths workshop to look like, although missing a few pieces. That wasn’t the weird part though, lining the bench placed in the middle of the room were pictures of each child that had been kidnapped. Opposite to them on the wall was a map with four x’s, kidnapping points. At least there weren’t any new points marked, but it still didn’t really get them any closer to the kids. 

Sweeping their flashlights to the right showed a stone platform that likely once hosted a fire and a hammer off to the side. On the other side was a more modern shelving area, it didn’t have much on it, just a small recorder and a piece of paper. 

Rose picked up the paper and showed it to Sorey, ‘Please play me.’

Sorey did not have a good feeling about this.. 

Rose let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding in and pushed play. 

_ My it seems you’ve answered this angels prayers. Well not exactly. You were supposed to find the real children, but you’ve failed. I suppose that means you’ll need a penalty. Ah, what a fun game we play. Your time to find the children before something dire happens is now halved and it will continue to be halved every time you fail. I’ve additionally left a hint in this very room, but choose wisely what leads you take. It’s your move, officers. _

Rose clenched her teeth, some sick game he thinks he can play. Her eyes darted around the room, they're down ten hours and she needs to find that hint. 

Pictures. Map. Bench. Shelves. Recorder.

Pictures. Kids. Map. Bench. Shelves. Recorder. Note. 

Pictures. Kids. Four. Map. X’s. Bench Shelves. Recorder. Note. Hammer. Forge. Blacksmiths?

Four. Map. X. Blacksmith. Note. no… 

Wait! 

“That’s it!” Rose called out. 

“What is?”

“The four blacksmiths of legend, they have a memorial outside of the library! That must be where the clue leads to.” Rose ran out of the cellar with Sorey following closely behind. 

When he took his first step out of the cellar his phone let out a ding. 

“Rose, they ran a facial recognition from a video of the guy we saw earlier. We’ve got a name and an address. It’s nearby.” 

“Great,” they were finally getting some leads, although it was all at a price. Rose opened the patrol car’s door. “Call Dezel.” 

He picked up on the fifth ring, “I’ve got good news and bad news…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pistachios are a nice 3AM snack


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More clues and a small piece of Dezel's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How does one solve a crime?
> 
> This came out much later than I intended, but that's probably for the best, when I first starting writing this chapter I ended up losing the flow of it halfway through but I was able to gain some motivation and revise it. I additionally cut this chapter a bit shorter than I originally intended but I figured this would be a good place to stop. 
> 
> Hopefully I fixed everything at this sane hour in the day. 
> 
> My goal is to have the next update some time next week, I'm hoping Monday if my motivation doesn't drop. (but we all know how that goes so...) 
> 
> *short mention of past murder, (not really any details, mostly just implied) and knife mention*

Talking to the guy wasn’t a big success at first but they eventually learned that he was hired by the supposed kidnapper. They had only met in person once, and the perpetrator had worn a mask, so he couldn’t give a description. When they met he had given the guy the photos of the kids, map, paper and recorder. He told him exactly how to place them in the cellar and made him call if the police ended up showing, something about keeping track of something?

That part really grinded at Rose, she was a great officer, don’t get that wrong, but she had a real bone to pick with people who messed with kids. They were just so innocent and fragile in this world, it truly sickened her that some people would go to such lengths just to do harm to such precious beings, be it physical or psychological harm. Sorey, of course didn’t feel much different on the subject but he did do a far better job when it came to keeping his feelings in check. 

Still, they were able to learn that the supposed perp was doing something with a warehouse. Lucky for them there was only one place that had warehouses in this city and that was in the Sparrow Feather Lot. 

This was something, the Sparrow Feather Lot and the memorial for the four blacksmiths of legend, but it was tricky. They only had nine hours and some odd minutes before who knows what could happen and they have two options, if either isn’t it then they’ll lose even more time and worse what if both are wrong, that’s even less, and that’s not even considering that this guy might be expecting them to go to both, giving us roughly two and a half hours if they’re both wrong and then the obvious option would be to make the next destination be too far for us to make it, but there’s also the fact that he thinks we’re taking too long so maybe he want’s us to find the children, or maybe he told the guy to tell us about the warehouse as a trap? Hell, they could both be false leads too.

Ugh, all this thinking was making Rose’s brain hurt. 

“I think we should go to both,” Sorey said, getting Rose’s attention. 

“Send Dezel and Zaveid to the memorial and we’ll go to the warehouse.”

Rose looked into Sorey’s green eyes looking for any uncertainty, “You sure about this?”

Sorey gave a small nod, “Think about it, this is a ‘game,’ isn’t it? I’m not entirely sure what his endgame is in all of it, but we have to save the children, and I think he want’s us to, it’s just a matter of how long it takes. After the twenty four hours are up there’s no saying what might happen, but I don’t think it means it’s the end of the game… no, more like, dare I say it, the game ends either when we find the kids or there are no more kids left to find… he seems to want to  _ play _ with us, so I think one of these places has to be the right one. Even if it’s not, it’s all we’ve got and if we just so happen to make the wrong choice twice then there’s other officers patrolling the city we can send to the next place if we can’t get there... “

The last part didn’t need to be finished, she knew very well the situation they were in. Rose pondered over Sorey’s words as quickly and as slowly as she was willing to. 

“As long as time is still on the clock, it’s our move,” Sorey added. 

Sorey was right, he might be a bit of a dork at heart but his theories when it came to police work were always exceptionally well thought out. 

She bit her lip, they didn’t have a lot of options and Sorey’s theories have never been disastrously wrong before.

‘You can’t play a game without first knowing how to play,’ her mind supplied. 

“I hope you’re right,” she put the car in drive and went off to what could either be a success or horrible loss…

* * *

Zaveid and Dezel had just left the site they were at and headed to the blacksmiths memorial. Sorey had just called and gave them the details. Their new assignment held a few concerns, but Sorey had said it was the best they could do now.

Dezel let out a sigh, the fact that someone had been able to get away with taking children was something he wouldn’t let slide. Well, he couldn’t let any crime slide really, memories of his childhood flashed in his mind, the glint from a knife before it struck Lafarga is where he stopped said memories. He couldn’t dwell on that now, what he wanted was justice and that’s all that mattered...

Zaveid parked the car and shot a glance to his partner, he may not’ve realize it yet but being partners for so long had allowed for Zaveid to get a much better read on Dezel. He might not be able to know or give the perfect details but he would always be close, and now he could tell Dezel was thinking about what made him want to become a cop in the first place. It was a traumatizing event, for lack of better word, but Zaveid was still glad Dezel trusted him enough to share it with him.

“Hey, we’ll get this guy,” Zaveid tried to reassure.

Dezel only gave a stiff nod. He certainly hoped that was the case, Rose and Sorey had been on this case for months, and if this didn’t prove to be something useful then who knows how long this case would go on for…

They got out of the car and headed towards the library. It wasn’t too busy which was a good sign, if anyone got to the statue before them then whatever they may be looking for could be gone.

At first glance nothing seemed off, the statue consisted of four men, all made of bronze, one was standing tall with his right hand on his hip and the other displaying two other blacksmiths at work. The two consisted of one that was crouching to hold something in place and the third blacksmith was in the middle of bringing down his hammer, then to the far right was the last blacksmith holding a sword to show off the work they had already completed.

They had to admit it was a rather admirable piece of work, but that wasn’t what they were here for. Upon further inspection the noticed that the blacksmith holding down the unforged piece of metal seemed to have something else lodged under his slightly arched hand. 

Zaveid took the object from under the hand of the statue, it seemed like a note but carried some heaviness to it. He unfolded the paper and revealed a key to be inside.

Dezel gestured towards the note, “What’s it say?”

He read the note aloud: 

_ It seems you’ve found a valuable item, but alas, it’s not the children. Congratulations on having your time cut in half again. _

Zaveid raised the key in Dezels direction, “What do you suppose it’s for?”

“Could be anything,” Dezel muttered. “But to me it seems like a dead lead and more lost time.”

“We don’t know that just yet,” Zaveid tried. “Call it in to Sorey and see if they’ve got anything on their end that could help.”

Dezel took out his phone and dialed Sorey.

There was no answer.

* * *

Rose stared discriminately at the padlock that was keeping them from getting into the warehouse. It was the only one that had been rented out in the last six months, and they already sent the name it was under to the station, but it was likely a fake.

Sorey came from around the other side of the large building and shook his head, “no lower windows.”

“All right,” Rose came up with an idea. “Lift me up and I’ll see if I can look in through one of the higher ones.” 

Sorey had to admit Rose didn’t always come up with the most orthodox way to solve problems but this was really no time for him to chastise her on it. He crouched down and wrapped his arms around her thighs turning his head to place it against the small of her back and lifted her. 

“Good, a little more to the right.” Sorey listened to her instructions. “Now forward.. Okay, stop.”

She peered into the window, it was very dark inside, but with what little light the windows did provided she could tell that there was an upper landing that probably went around the whole perimeter. What was on the floor was much harder to pick out, it seemed like boxes… crates? She squinted trying to get a better picture. 

In the midst of trying to confirm her find, Sorey’s phone rang causing her to startle. 

“Rose,” Sorey called out while trying to get his footing back and steady Rose. 

“Sorry,” she placed her hands against the building for better balance and eventually settled.

Sorey’s phone stopped ringing, “What do you see?”

“Not much, some railing that runs along the upper deck and some boxes on the ground but they’re pretty big, so more like crates.”

Sorey gave a hum of acknowledgement, “that’s nothing to give us probable cause…” 

Rose gave a sound of agreement, “but we need to see inside those crates.” 

Sorey let go of Roses legs and caught her again at the armpits to lessen the stress on her landing. “What do you think they’re holding?” 

“Could be anything..”

Sorey’s phone rang again and he answered. 

Judging by the look on his face Rose did not suspect good news. 

His eyebrows scrunched together, “A key..?” 

Sorey thought for a moment, “wait, maybe your key can help us out. We’ve got a padlock that’s keeping us from getting into the warehouse, maybe it’s a match?”

“All right,” said Dezel on the other line. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.” 

Sorey cut the line and started doing the math, their time had just been cut in half and by the time Zaveid and Dezel get here they’ll have just under four and a half hours. Assuming this place isn’t where the children are then they’ll be down to two hours… It’s all a matter of what’s in those crates and the thought that they may be harboring children isn’t a particularly good one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really want to go into Dezel's whole backstory at this time, and I don't know that a time for it will ever arise so maybe I'll write it separately as a short fic? 
> 
> Also do y'all wanna hear what snack I had this time?  
> Me neither.  
> It was tortilla chips with that spray cheese you get from a can

**Author's Note:**

> The nursery rhyme I used is real (Man of Words and Not of Deeds by Percy B Green) but I completely made up the part about the book.


End file.
